Big Events: Television

MAJOR MINIS Rich Man, Poor Man-itis continues at the networks. Watch for sweeps offerings from big-name authors like Tom Clancy's Netforce (Feb. 1 & 4, ABC) and Stephen King's Storm of the Century (Feb. 14, 15 & 18, ABC). Lauren Bacall plays the doomed heiress in Too Rich: The Secret Life of Doris Duke (Feb. 21 & 23, CBS). For the kiddies, Jon Voight and Mary Steenburgen shepherd the creatures of Noah's Ark (May 2--3, NBC). And you can tune in and check out The '60s (Feb 7--8, NBC), a fictionalized account of the already chimerical decade. Most ambitious of all is the $30 million-plus production of Cleopatra (May, ABC), which casts relative unknown Leonor Varela (The Man in the Iron Mask) as the Nile's premier goddess, Timothy Dalton as Julius Caesar, and Titanic's Billy Zane as Marc Antony. We can see the ABC ads already: Won't you watch like an Egyptian?! --SM